


dying starship (going down)

by revoleotion



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Post TLJ, angst with almost no plot, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:13:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23433715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revoleotion/pseuds/revoleotion
Summary: Hux looks worse than how Kylo left him behind in the shuttle. He has several fractured bones, his lip is bleeding again and his fingers go up to his throat when he sees Kylo; muscle memory of the throne room disaster.[...]Kylo says the only thing he can think of.“She’s already dead.”
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Phasma, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 126





	dying starship (going down)

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Умирающий корабль](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26422378) by [fandom SW IX - Duel of the Fates 2020 (Our_Own_Star_Wars)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Our_Own_Star_Wars/pseuds/fandom%20SW%20IX%20-%20Duel%20of%20the%20Fates%202020), [Izverg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izverg/pseuds/Izverg)



The last time Kylo has seen Hux’ brooding, angry silhouette was on the old resistance base on Crait, so when they met on the remains of the _Supremacy_ , Kylo briefly considers if he’s hallucinating. They stare at each other, two men on a dying starship. 

Hux looks worse than how Kylo left him behind in the shuttle. He has several fractured bones, his lip is bleeding again and his fingers go up to his throat when he sees Kylo; muscle memory of the throne room disaster. 

This is, Kylo reminds himself, the man that ordered to evacuate _Starkiller_ right before it all went down. Hux has proven over and over again that his own life is so precious to him that he would sacrifice everything and everyone to live another day. 

That doesn’t explain why Kylo tracked him down here. 

Before he can even attempt to ask, Hux speaks up. His voice is haunted, so is his face. It’s like speaking to a ghost; to someone that either already lost it or is in the progress of falling apart. A part of Kylo wants to watch. This cowards threatened to shoot him only hours ago while he was on the ground. The same cowards now hisses at him, “She’s still here.”

Kylo rolls his eyes. He has watched Hux’ weak attempts at hiding his ‘lesser traits’ for years but this isn’t what he expected his worst weakness to be. Kylo can feel her life force, deep down somewhere in the floating mess that used to be their capital. The life is bleeding out of her, the longer they talk, the less visible she becomes in the Force.

He needs Hux out of here. The ship is dying, and no matter how much Kylo hates him, he needs the man’s brain. Snoke had been wise (or stupid) enough to keep Hux around, Kylo will do the same until it’s time to let go. 

He says the only thing he can think of. 

“She’s already dead.”

Hux freezes in the air like someone shot him. He stares down on his chest, his shaking hands, then slowly locks eyes with Kylo again. Something inside him broke, and is now oozing into the air, poisoning it. 

“No,” Hux says with enough power to make Kylo step back with caution. The Force highlights a black void around the man. If he were able to use that power, there’d be no telling what he’d do. 

“We have to leave, General--”

“ _You’re not going to take her away from me too_!” Hux screams with more power than his lungs should be able to hold. He flinches at a loose cord showering his entire body with sparks but doesn’t interrupt the eye contact with Kylo. 

Whatever Kylo does now, Hux will hate him forever. He feels his hatred through layers of pain. And Kylo hates him too, of course he does, but something inside him doesn’t want to kick a dog that is already on the ground. 

“Five minutes. Stay by my side,” he orders and watches some of the anger in Hux’ face being replaced with irritation. 

“What?” he asks quietly. 

“I located her. We have five minutes before the oxygen levels get too low. At least for you.”

He notices his mistake too late. To be precise, he notices it the second Hux leaps forwards and tackles him down. Kylo is too surprised to react but the Force does it for him, anyway. A small push sends Hux’ fragile body through the air. He crashes against the sparking walls, groans and picks himself up again. More bruises, perhaps another broken rib. 

“You said she’s dead!”

“You’re making it easy for her to die alone! Hurry up!” Kylo yells back. 

He starts walking down the hallway and while he doesn’t look over his shoulder, he senses that Hux follows him. Kylo pushes objects out of his way like they’re nothing, opens doors for them and finally stops in the middle of a room that looks like hell broke loose and never left. 

Hux halts next to him, shoots him a glare and steps closer to the hole in the ground. Kylo can feel her before he can see her. 

She’s a crushed pile of metal at the bottom of the pit. Kylo pulls out several corpses of troopers before he gets hold of her. The sound that escapes Hux’ mouth is barely human. It’s worse than his rage, in a way Kylo can’t put into words. Kylo has hurt Hux a lot during these past years but he has never made a sound like that. 

The ginger staggers to the side when Kylo throws Phasma over his shoulder and walks towards the docking station. 

They don’t talk on their way back. Hux’ breath picks up speed, he’s clearly exhausted but Kylo doesn’t have time for him. They reach the shuttle right before the oxygen drops again. The _Supremacy_ is on its last dying breath. The destruction is pretty in its own way. 

_This may better be worth it_ , Kylo thinks, and has to bite back a laugh. Hux would’ve died for a woman he doesn’t even love. (Or at least not in _that_ way. Kylo will never forget their reaction to that assumption, and he is sure that Phasma ruined an entire helmet with the coffee she spit out after he made a comment about them dating.)

The shuttle opens the door for them with a little hiss and Kylo pushes it open with the Force so they can enter quicker. He drops the body right near the entrance, a lot more careful than he’d like to. Hux doesn’t pay any attention to Kylo when he strides past him and whatever is left of Phasma. He collapses next to her burnt body and starts prying off the metal armor from her face. It has to hurt but Kylo doesn’t expect that to stop Hux who has clearly gone insane. 

When Kylo sinks into the pilot seat to finally get them out of here, he hears it. 

“Sh.”

It’s Hux but in a way Kylo never heard him before. He’s barely alive, his life force almost as faint as the one of his best friend. He’s _soft_. Hux would never call himself soft willingly, that word was reserved for Brendol getting out of shape, starting to lose the edge around his mind. 

Still, there’s no other way to say it. Kylo’s hands mash buttons and force the shuttle to lift off but he can’t pry his focus away from his rival, enemy, the tortured dog, sitting next to his almost dead friend and speaking to her. And if Kylo didn’t know any better, he’d pretend that this image won’t haunt him but it will. 

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Hux repeats all over again. He crawled over to the cupboards with med packs, something Kylo didn’t authorize him to do. Again, it’s unlikely that anything can stop Hux in this moment. 

Kylo allows himself to ignore the two until the shuttle has switched to autopilot, then he turns around in the seat. 

“Her condition is critical,” he says. He hates how Hux reacts to it, a faint wince and hatred spread across his face. 

“Shh,” the ginger repeats again and strokes Phasma’s burnt cheek. He has treated some of the worst injuries with bacta and now starts combing through her hair with his fingers. Chunks of blonde locks fall to the ground but Hux doesn’t pay attention to them. 

In many ways, this has to be the worst thing Kylo ever had to witness. He has killed before. He has seen people die before. This is different. The entire scenario is too gentle, too loving. 

“You maybe want to connect her to the life support,” he hears himself saying as he gets up from the chair. “Com’on.”

There are a few things in the galaxy that require more effort than removing Hux from Phasma’s body, Kylo quickly realizes. It takes a lot of pulling and promises until he can convince Hux to carry her over to the bacta-tank. _The portable ones look like a casket_ , Kylo thinks and doesn’t say out loud. 

It takes even more convincing to make Hux sit down on the co-pilot seat, mostly, so Kylo can monitor him. The man won’t let Kylo touch him, which doesn’t surprise anyone at this point. Once he’s seated, exhaustion takes over rapidly. He’s asleep before Kylo can count to ten. 

And it’s so tempting to touch him, to try to recreate some of the softness he has with Phasma, but Kylo has never had that. He’s the one almost killing Hux every day, it’s like he’s an exploding star that burns everything in its way. 

“Ren?” Hux’ voice asks. 

So, he’s not asleep then. Kylo feels caught for staring at him, not that it matters, not that anything matters when they’re broken beyond repair. 

“What is it?” Kylo asks. 

A tear runs down Hux’ cheek and he doesn’t even make the effort to wipe it away. Kylo takes off his gloves but stops right before the man’s face and waits for a nod. 

“I left her to die,” Hux whispers. Kylo cups his cheek with his hand and starts wiping away the tears. There’s more of them now, it doesn’t seem like Hux noticed that he’s crying. 

“She won’t die.”

People have survived worse, Kylo assumes, although he’d have to tell Hux about what he saw on the scanners soon enough. Not now.

“I don’t know what I’d do without her,” Hux says. “I’d just go insane.”

“You’re not insane yet? What was that just then?”

Kylo is rewarded with a sad smile that joins the pile of haunting impressions from today. They fall silent again, a better silence than before. They leave the _Supremacy_ behind, ashes of the First Order the way they know them. Kylo will change things. 

He just has to make sure that some things won’t change. 

He smiles at Hux and his heart stops for a second when the man smiles back. 

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up from a nap with this idea but the longer I wrote, the worse it became. The soft ending is for Fiona but it also saved my own soul. I'm not a monster, you know?  
> \- ben


End file.
